hippopotamus
Use Hippopotamus in a sentence
əˈpɒt Origin:
1555–65; < Latin < Greek hippopótamos, earlier híppos potámios literally, riverine horse (term used by Herodotus in his account of the Egyptian hippopotamus); compare Middle English ypotame, ypotamos, ypotanus < Old French ypotame < Medieval Latin ypotamus
1555–65; < Latin < Greek hippopótamos, earlier híppos potámios literally, riverine horse (term used by Herodotus in his account of the Egyptian hippopotamus); compare Middle English ypotame, ypotamos, ypotanus < Old French ypotame < Medieval Latin ypotamus
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To hippopotamus
00:10
Hippopotamus
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
hippopotamus (ˌhɪpəˈpɒtəməs) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n , pl -muses, -mi | |
| 1. | a very large massive gregarious artiodactyl mammal, Hippopotamus amphibius, living in or around the rivers of tropical Africa: family Hippopotamidae. It has short legs and a thick skin sparsely covered with hair |
| 2. | pigmy hippopotamus a related but smaller animal, Choeropsis liberiensis |
| [C16: from Latin, from Greek hippopotamos river horse, from hippos horse + potamos river] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
hippopotamus
1563, from L.L. hippopotamus, from Gk. hippopotamus "riverhorse" (earlier ho hippos ho potamios "the horse of the river"), from hippos "horse" + potamos "river, rushing water" (see petition). Replaced M.E. ypotame (c.1300), which is from the same source but via O.Fr.
"Ypotamos comen flyngynge. ... Grete bestes and griselich" ["Kyng Alisaunder," c.1300]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The ears of the hippopotamus: manifestations, determinants, and estimates of the malaria burden.
Dentures made for him were carved from hippopotamus, walrus, or elephant ivory or other teeth.
Ali at one juncture rides to fame on the back of a hippopotamus.
But consider the whale, whose closest living ancestor is the hippopotamus.
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